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Contributor

08.10.09

Box Elders, Alice and Friends

Label: Goner / Revolver

Go ahead, call 'em goofballs, but no one in Omaha is having more fun making tossed-off, basement-band-practice rock'n'roll than these guys. After naming themselves for the bugs that infested their childhood house, longhaired brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre started Box Elders as a Friday night jam session with their mom on drums. They eventually replaced her with Dave Goldberg, who saw the McIntyres play a free show in the park and was so moved that… read more »

Contributor

08.10.09

Box Elders, Alice and Friends

Label: Goner / Revolver

Go ahead, call 'em goofballs, but no one in Omaha is having more fun making tossed-off, basement-band-practice rock'n'roll than these guys. After naming themselves for the bugs that infested their childhood house, longhaired brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre started Box Elders as a Friday night jam session with their mom on drums. They eventually replaced her with Dave Goldberg, who saw the McIntyres play a free show in the park and was so moved that he agreed to play drums and organ for them — simultaneously. Together, they inject every garage-pop rave-up on their full-length debut with the ramshackle rock and pure teenage-rapscallion joy that's become Goner Records 'trademark. The title track perfectly sums up their whatever-works m.o.: "So you joined a band / bangin 'pots and pans / singin', 'Anything you want to do / should be alright!'" And they bang those pots with vigor: Goldberg puts extra stomp-power into his kick-drum and cranks up the fuzz on his organ while the McIntyres speed-strum each psychedelic riff, testifying about their favorite things — wildcats, girls, playing ball — until they're literally growling or hollering. If you don't laugh out loud at the awesome, ecstatically out-of-tune yodel at the end of "Ronald Dean," you either have no ears or no heart.

I like this in a sick kind of way

Stuff like this is actually kind of refreshing. Studio polish would ruin it. It sounds like it was recorded on a cassette recorder and that's its charm. If it was produced by Brendan O'Brien and mastered by some New York big shot with $80,000 worth of Waves plug-ins and pitch correction software, it wouldn't be the same.

eMusic Features

File Under: Trashy garage rock and punk, with a smattering of catchy pop
Flagship Acts: Smith Westerns, Dum Dum Girls, Woven Bones, Box Elders, Wizzard Sleeve
Based In: Chicago, Illinois
In less than five years, Chicago's HoZac has released close to 80 records, and while it's easy to categorize the majority of that batch under the nebulous "garage/punk" umbrella, the label has dabbled in pop and folk as well. In fact, the Windy City imprint's catalog is all… more »

After Box Elders’ 2008 Grotto Records 7″, the energetic garage rock trio from Omaha gained respect on the indie circuit while touring the U.S. With two distinctly memorable characters in the group — Clayton McIntyre, a singer/bass player who resembles a Dogtown Z-boy (and often appears on-stage in a cape and biker shorts or a loincloth), and Dave Goldberg, a multi-instrumentalist who somehow plays drums and keyboards simultaneously with astounding efficiency — Memphis’ Goner Records took the bait and signed the band just as rumors circulated that the group was potentially signing to Matador. Box Elders’ first full-length, Alice & Friends (named after the group’s favorite Korean vegan BBQ), is a step up from the low fidelity of their first outing, but only slightly. Set in their basement again, instead of recording under the supervision of the Shanks’ Steve Sampley to a four-track, the threesome recorded the album by themselves after upgrading to an eight-track tape recorder. As the lack of a digital audio workstation and the stone-walled environment might suggest, it’s another lo-fi, fuzzy concoction of washed-out sonics, but it’s not as grating on the ear as say, Times New Viking or Eat Skull. Instead, the sound’s a little closer to King Khan & His Shrines, amply drenched in dirty analog and ’60s melodies, with retro touches like Farfisa organ fills and clean guitars bleeding in the red. The hit of the record, “Hole in My Head” makes a return appearance, but the songs “Alice & Friends,” “Death of Me,” and “Stay” are equally poppy. Call it sloppy pop (or poppy slop), but even with the raw aesthetic and tinny resonance, the songs are entirely sweet and hummable, sometimes to the point of being unshakable. – Jason Lymangrover